July 21-23
3:52.53.54.55.56. Matthew 13:10-17:
Dei Verbum is the Vatican II decree on Divine Revelation. It helps us to
understand how God speaks to us through the Scriptures and through a living
Tradition. God speaks to Abraham as a friend to a friend. We see this
happening to Moses in the theophany that occurs at Mount Sinai. Moses is a
friend of God and we learn much from his relationship in the story of
Exodus. He believes and trusts in the leadership role that God has called
him to and realizes he cannot do it alone. God and he work together in
leading the people through the desert. Today with the great experience of
the cloud, the thunder, lightening, and fire we see God confirming in a
covenant what he has called Moses to do for the people. They, too, will be
led to a covenantal relationship with God.
The journey through the Sinai desert is not an ordinary one. God is with
them through the long years of wandering and Moses is the one who keeps
them focused on the ultimate goal of reaching a land God has promised to
them. They are being led to freedom.
Israel is receiving and working out with God its spiritual destiny. Like
Moses the people are bonded with God through the covenant of friendship
called a b'rit. This is a treaty in which they are dependent on God and
God's fidelity. Through their voluntary commitment inspired in them by
Moses they will experience spiritual and bodily freedom.
We are given some evidence that this particular passage occured during the
month of June. From images of the zodiak seen in synagogues we realize
that these are not used as any form of predicting the future nor as magic
but as a way of honoring the sacredness of the seasons and those events
which occur among God's people in salvation history. This month of the
Gemini symbol represents for the People of God the giving of the Torah that
is written and the Torah that is spoken similar to what we say about
Scripture and Tradition not Scripture alone (Scriptura sola). The Wisdom
teachers of Israel known as the Sages, "take (the symbol of the Gemini) as
a symbolizing of the writtten Torah and the oral Torah both having equal
value." (Etz Hayim, page 436). Amen.
July 22, Lectionary 399:
Scripture: Lectionary 399. Exodus 20:1-19. Psalm 19:8.9.10.11. Matthew
13:18-23:
Christians name the tablets given to Moses on Mount Sinai as the "Ten
Commandments." The words in the Hebrew inspired texts are not the same as
Ten Commandments but rather the Ten Words/ Statements/Pronouncements." The
first translation of the Hebrew text into Greek had the right way of
speaking of the gift Moses received from God as the deka logoi or the Ten
Words, hence, "Decalogue" is the best way of describing what the text is
saying.
The Hebrew Bible is called the Tanach and this was first translated into
Septuagintal Greek in Alexandria around the years 200-150 B.C. The symbol
used for the legend of the seventy translators is LXX (the Septuagint).
God is not speaking conditionally in what is entrusted to Moses. The words
are absolute: "Thou shall not..." What is "commanded" is not only illegal,
it is downright wrong. We learn that: "A fundamental principle in Judaism
is: How we treat one another is of concern to God." (Etz Hayim, p. 441).
Jewish friends say that one should not speak about a person who is not
present. That would prevent a lot of our uncharitable remarks and speech!
That would be what Jesus expects of us in his commandment of agape
(unselfish love). Jesus learned this from his own religion and certainly
from what is the focus of today's reading in the Book of Exodus.
The Sh'ma is a confirmation of God being present to his people as I AM; the
rest is all commentary once we all realize who God is in the theophany that
happens on Sinai. May we be aware of that presence as God's friend Moses
was. Amen.
July 23, Lectionary # 400:
Scripture: Lectionary 400. Exodus 24:3-8. Psalm 50: 1-2.5-6.14-15.
Matthew 13:24-30:
Our first reading is very helpful in giving us some Scriptural background
for understanding how the liturgy of the Eucharist has many of the
components, themes, and symbolic rituals found in the Exodus narrative that
describes the covenantal sacrifices. There is a similarity in our
sacrament to the Exodus experience that Jesus himself was so faithful to.
Paul too had a great devotion to the Exodus themes. In the Eucharist we
have the words over the chalice, "This is the blood of the new covenant..."
We recognize the similarity in our closing lines from the passage read from
Exodus: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord now makes with you
concerning all these commands." (Exodus 24:8). The word used for commands
is DABAR which is best explained as the word of God that is an event, a
happening and not just a concept or vocal sound. Perhaps, the best passage
of Scripture for a correct interpretation of DABAR is the following from
Isaiah: For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do
not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and
fruitful. Giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall
my WORD (DABAR) be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me
void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it." (Isaiah
55:10-11).
We like the Israelites affirm our covenant with God through Jesus and
proclaim it with the acclamation "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ
will come again." The Israelites acclaim: "All things that the Lord has
commanded, we will do." Jesus says, "Do this in commemoration of me."
Moses sets up an altar with twelve pillars representing the people and
makes sacrifice to the Lord. Jesus is symbolized by the altar and gathers
everyone from East, West, North, and South to participate in his life and
his sacrifice. We see in the blessing of the bread and the wine a
remembering of what Jesus did at the Last Supper on the night before he
died. God is present in the liberating freedom and memory of the Exodus;
Jesus is present in the Eucharist. People are united in peace and love.
"There are many things in life that we cannot appreciate before we have
lived them and come to appreciate their value. We must do them first and
only afterward realize why." (Etz Hayim, p. 478). Amen.
posted by Fr. Bert SM at 2:01 PM
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